Toward Socially Sustainable Urban Transportation: Progress and Potentials

ABSTRACT

Drawing upon relevant literature, this article reviews research on socially sustainable urban transportation (SSUT). Arguing that the social dimensions of sustainability are more often implied rather than explicit, this article subsequently considers how urban transportation influences the achievement of social sustainability in urban regions. Socially sustainable urban transportation is implied in the literature through the elements of social equity, social exclusion, and quality of life. Several well-established research areas provide potential theoretical, methodological, and applied insight into the development of future socially sustainable urban transportation research agendas, including: urban form, location- and individual-based accessibility, and city/regional planning for sustainability.

Key Words:

• individual-based accessibility
• quality of life
• social equity
• social exclusion
• socially sustainable urban transportation

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The helpful comments from three anonymous reviewers are greatly appreciated.

Notes

¹For example, the various perspectives of social equity contain irreconcilable philosophical differences. Furthermore, there are significant challenges in determining need under the construct of social equity. It is important to remain cognizant of these tensions, but it is not the objective of this article to unravel them.

²See http://www.ivv.tuwien.ac.at/

³The friends, neighbors, relatives, and co-workers to whom an individual is socially tied.